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and especially should not be 1/3 of the BCS equation...they can't even count to 23 in their top 25 poll!

Ok, so it is probably just an error by ESPN.com but it gave me the opportunity to jump on a topic I like to bash. Coaches taking the time to vote in a poll.

I am just going to name a coach randomly because we don't have access to how the coaches vote so please don't take offense Badger fans, but is Wisconsin's Bret Bielema a good person to ask who is better LSU or Alabama, where Boise State should be ranked, or if Texas is a top 25 team?

I am sure Bret has plenty on his plate at around Midnight last night after another heartbreaking loss. The last thing he should to be doing is determining where Arkansas should be ranked after nearly getting upset by Vanderbilt or if Oklahoma should be the highest ranked one loss team.

You can gripe about the media and perceived biases they may or may not have, but they watch a lot more games than coaches do.

The only thing coaches should be allowed to vote on is teams in their conference because that is all they have watched and studied.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Oklahoma State -14 vs Baylor
The Robert Griffin III for Heisman story was nice but he can only carry his team for so long. Oklahoma State's offense has not missed one beat without Dana Holgorsen and despite not having a great defense they can simply make opposing offenses play one-dimensional because of the leads they jump out to. Cowboys rolls at home.Oklahoma State 51 Baylor 27

Navy +21.5 at Notre Dame
The Midshipmen stroll into South Bend on a five game losing streak. But four of those losses are by a combined eight points. If there a mentally resilient team Navy has to be one.

Navy has also won three of the last four in this series straight up. The caution point here is that Notre Dame blew out Air Force earlier in the season who runs a similar offense.

However, the Irish are coming off a soul crushing defeat to arch rival USC last week in which they were dominated on the ground by the Trojans.

Brian Kelly's team wins this one but closer than the public thinks. Notre Dame 34 Navy 21

Clemson -3.5 at Georgia Tech
I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this line. I know about the series history and how 12 of the last 16 have been decided by five points or less, but in three of those other four games Clemson blew out Georgia Tech by at least 14 points.

The Tigers have a decided talent advantage and look to be much better than their 2010 squad which beat the Yellow Jackets by 14 while Tech is playing much like they did last year of late.

Georgia Tech keeps this close for three quarters, but big plays by Clemson take this one in the end.Clemson 34 Georgia Tech 28

Other games I like...

I really like Stanford -8 versus USC as I don't think the Trojans can stop a power running game, but the road setting worries me since Stanford has not faced much adversity.Take Stanford ML

Wisconsin is another road team I like at -7.5, but Ohio State's defense is good enough to keep this one to close for comfort.Take Wisconsin ML

South Carolina opened as a 7 point favorite at Tennessee but it has moved all the way to 3.5 by gameday. I get that the Gamecocks don't have Marcus Lattimore and that is a huge blow, but the Volunteers will be starting a true freshman at QB against a good South Carolina defense. Since I don't know how much Lattimore is really worth yet I am staying away from the spread here.Take South Carolina ML

Georgia SHOULD beat Florida easily on Saturday. The Bulldogs are more talented than the Gators at just about every position. The line is only -3 here so taking UGA with the points is not a bad bet at all. I guess I have just seen the head games play too much with Georgia over the years to take any kind of points.Take Georgia ML

Upset: Michigan State over Nebraska
The Spartans do have to go on the road for this one but they have good experience playing against a run first QB like Taylor Martinez. Take Michigan State ML

That's right. The Cavaliers and Blue Devils still control their destiny in the ACC's Coastal Division (for those who can't remember Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and North Carolina are also in this division).

UVA got their destiny back with an upset win at Miami on Thursday knocking the 'Canes back to the 99% of college football (i.e. those whose destinies are determined by others).

Now, Duke does have a little bit of a hill to climb starting with a game against perennial favorite Virginia Tech today, but heck Wake won this conference back in 2006 so never say never (For full disclosure, I am picking Va Tech to win in my pool).

John Swofford, if you are reading this, hopefully you have a trash can nearby for the vomit you just expunged into your mouth.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Thank goodness Ivan Maisel corrected him. If you don't know the story of why Georgia Tech left the SEC, I won't spoil it for you, but just skip ahead to about 27 minutes into the podcast for the beginning of the discussion.

Alabama as a 10 point favorite over Boise State in the Sugar Bowl? I guess that sounds about right because I could the Tide winning this one by 21 or losing this one outright like they did with Utah a few years ago.

Clemson -7 vs Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl is what Covers.com is calling for at this time. I would think that line would move higher almost immediately. The Bearcats lost by three touchdowns at Tennessee earlier this season. The Tigers are more talented the Tennessee and I don't think Rocky Top is worth two scores.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Florida DT Sharif Floyd sounds very confident his head coach Will Muschamp will get his first Win in the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party.

From CBSSports-: The Georgia game resonates because of coach Will Muschamp's history with the Bulldogs. "It's special to me because not only did Coach Muschamp play there, but he never beat Florida," sophomore DT Sharrif Floyd said. "Now he gets to play for Florida and come out with his win."

Joe Giglio of the Raleigh News and Observer was on 790 The Zone today discussing Clemson's post season possibilities.

Of course if the Tigers win out (and they will be favored in everyone of their remaining games barring injury) they could be in line for a BCS Championship Game. But they would also likely need some help from Stanford or Kansas State and maybe even Boise State.

Giglio surmises that IF Clemson is not going to be playing in the BCS Championship Game, then their fan base would rather LOSE the ACC Championship Game to a likely Virginia Tech team and play the Alabama/LSU loser in the Sugar than WIN and play the Big East Champ in the Orange Bowl.

I know Tiger fans are constantly measuring their program (much like FSU and Georgia Tech) against the SEC since they have in state rivals in that conference, but would they really want to turn down the first conference championship since 1991 just to play a much better bowl opponent?

I find that very hard to believe, but I will turn it over to the Clemson fans to decide.

Would you rather?

A) Win the ACC and play a mediocre Big East Champion in the Orange Bowl or

B) Lose the ACC Championship Game and play the Alabama/LSU loser in the Sugar Bowl

The former Clemson Head Coach was on 790 The Zone's Mayhem in the AM this morning talking about the players he recruited at Clemson and the matchup with Georgia Tech this weekend.

Bowden was discussing Paul Johnson's scheme and says he always thought it was easier to recruit against Georgia Tech because [paraphrasing] "its hard to convince an offensive lineman to go there because he won't practice pass protection, a defensive lineman doesn't want to get chop blocked all spring, a defensive back doesn't want to work on run support, a receiver wants to catch more than three passes a game, a quarterback that wants to throw doesn't want to go there."

“I’ve never worried about redshirts,” Dooley said. “I don’t care. These guys don’t worry about staying for four years anymore, so why should we worry about redshirts?”

On the other side of the coin we have Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech who would like to only use his freshman QB Vad Lee in an emergency.

With two straight losses where the offense mustered 21 points total in the two games, calls are being made to take the redshirt off Lee and prepare him for next season. Adding to the possibility of this is backup Synjyn Days, who replaced struggling starter Tevin Washington in the 4th quarter, was injured and did not return.

But Johnson was steadfast early on in the season about redshirting the freshman from Durham, NC.

Additionally, he said he has told Lee he’d like to see him compete to be the starting quarterback for four years. “He’ll be much better as a fifth-year senior than as a true freshman"

When asked after the Miami loss if playing Lee was a possibility, Johnson said "probably not"

If Days cannot play that would automatically move Lee up to number #2. However, I still think Lee only plays if Washington and Days both get hurt.

Decisions like Dooley and Johnson have made with their talented true freshman is how they earn their paychecks. We won't know if they were the right ones until three or four years down the road.

Occupy Atlanta tried to expand ts protests into Buckhead on Thursday with a planned march through Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza. But the demonstration got sidetracked when several protesters apparently got lost riding MARTA to the Lenox Station.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

If you are interested in the world of sports gambling from how it works to some of the "wise guys" picks I highly suggest you start listening to the Behind The Bets Podcast on ESPN.

In this week's episode they talk about how the top ranked teams are covering at such a high rate that the Sportsbooks are taking it in the shorts because much of the public likes to bet the best teams to cover.

Stanford has been a particular thorn in Vegas' side because of their blow out wins. So much that some books are leaving the Cardinal off their parlay sheets this week.

Vandy fans love the attitude of new head coach James Franklin sticking up for his team after Saturday night's loss to Georgia.

This viewpoint differs greatly from UGA fans who see Franklin as a whiner who should have not have been talking to Georgia players or Mark Richt about his team's behavior.

For their actions, UGA DL Kwame Geathers and S Shawn Williams have been suspended for the first half against Florida while Vandy C Logan Stevens has been suspended for the first half against Army. The SEC is handling any punishment of UGA Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham and Franklin "internally".

"Rain drenched the team at practice Tuesday, the first of three scheduled days of work during the bye week. Players went in shoulders pads, helmets and shorts for just over an over, with the pouring rain cutting the sessions short. "We got most of our work in," coach Mark Richt said."From CBS Rapid Reports

This is the same school that generated over $70 Million in revenue from football in 2009 with a profit of over $52 Million.

As you can, the Yellow Jackets opponents are the least penalized in the nation by a wide margin. This has been a consistent theme over Johnson's four seasons with the team ranking 107th or lower. So I wanted to see how the penalty yards compared from his time at Navy.

A very good interview with UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity on Atlanta's 790 The Zone.

The guys ask McGarity specifically if Defensive Coordinator was already under any leash after last year's choking signal to a Florida player and McGarity declined comment repeatedly (I found this no 'comment' interesting. If he was not under scrutiny previously why not come out and say it?).

He also has a unique perspective on the UGA-UF rivalry having worked under Gator AD Jeremy Foley for many years. McGarity talks about how each Florida head coach prepped for this game and how that might have played into the Gators recent dominance.

Also, don't expect any end zone celebrations this year as McGarity discussed how disappointing that was to see from the other side and how the situation could have really gotten out of hand.

"New Patriots coach Paul Hewitt has already accomplished something his predecessor Jim Larranaga probably wouldn't have been able to do. He pulled off the above outfit. Hewitt donned an identical suit to Doc Nix, the iconic George Mason band leader known for dressing like, well ... like a pimp"
- from Yahoo's The Dagger

The key words here are 'subpoena power'. As in the NCAA does not have it with former Miami players implicated in the story by Charles Robinson of Yahoo.

From the Miami Herald today-"An official close to the NCAA’s investigation said several former UM players have refused to speak to the NCAA, as expected, and the NCAA probably won’t be able to corroborate most of what Nevin Shapiro claimed against more than 50 former Hurricanes players. "

Georgia won a hard fought game at Vanderbilt 33-28 last night with the Commodores failing to score on their final play.

However, the real fireworks didn't start until Vandy Head Coach James Franklin caught up with UGA Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham as what was supposed to be the post game hand shake.

From the slow motion video (below) that Franklin is pointing in the direction of #36 for UGA, Shawn Williams, as he approaches mid field

Williams received two personal foul penalties in the game. Another Bulldog Kwame Geathers also received a personal foul penalty for throwing a punch in what appeared to be retaliation for a chop block. The Vanderbilt player involved in the Geathers incident also received a flag.

But back to the Grantham/Franklin altercation.

IF Franklin was calling out Williams then yes (we can only assume this to be true based on what happened next) Grantham has a right to be upset. But he does not have the right to start a near brawl at mid field

What we do know is the UGA DC completely lost his cool towards his opponent. Plain and simple. I might expect this from a player involved in a heated play, but not from a coach making $750,000 per year.

Maybe it was a simple, one-time loss of judgement on his part. I could believe that if there wasn't a history with Grantham.

Yes, Grantham has a right to defend his player. He has a right to do it appropriately and not to start a near brawl at midfield and completely hog the spotlight from his team who just won a SEC road game.

I am sure Marlon Brown wishes people were talking about his break out game instead.

And here is some close up, slo-mo of Grantham after the game.

Richt seemed disappointed in his post game press conference at how the game ended.“I don’t know for sure what happened. I’ve heard a couple of different sides of the story. It’s hard to know which one is 100 percent the truth. But the bottom line is when the game is over the game’s over. You shake hands and you be thankful for the victory. Just like at the end of a play. When a play’s over, it’s over. Go to the sideline. We didn’t do a very good job of that at times.

“It was heated. It IS battle. It’s not war with real bullets but it’s a war in a sense and it’s very physical. Tempers do get flared up. I don’t mind our blood getting hot but we have to be able to get excited or maybe even angry but not foul.”

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ranked 13th in the country and a two touchdown favorite against Maryland this weekend has the Yellow Jackets feeling good about their chances of going to 6-0 after Saturday. Maybe too good...

Orwin Smith told CBSSports.com after the win over NC State the following...

"RB Orwin Smith said the Jackets haven't accomplished enough yet. “(5-0) means a lot, obviously,” he said. “We just have to keep going. In my mind, we haven't played real competition yet to really test our skills... I'm looking forward to the tough games -- Virginia Tech and Clemson. Those really are going to make a statement.”.

If Georgia Tech takes cares of Maryland they have two more games where they will likely be favored before setting up a matchup of undefeated and top 10 teams when Clemson comes to Atlanta on October 29. ESPN GameDay is already in discussions to bring their show and a prime time slot for that game expecting the Tigers to be unbeaten as well.

Before they get to 8-0, the Jackets will have to overcome some history especially with their next two opponents after the Terps. On October 15, Tech travels to Charlottesville where they will face an underwhelming Virginia team. However, many a promising season has ended at Scott Stadium where GT has won just once since 1990. The 1999, 2001, and 2005 losses were an especially bitter pill to swallow for Jackets' fans as they were defeated by inferior Cavalier teams. See a pattern here?

Following UVA on Oct 22 is a trip to Miami. The Hurricanes have defeated Georgia Tech the last two seasons outscoring the Yellow Jackets 68-27, a dominance far outweighing any other ACC team. Al Golden's team should be at full strength by then with all suspended players back. If there is a team that has "figured out" Paul Johnson's system then it would be Miami (I don't actually believe that but the stats against UM are damning).

Georgia Tech probably wins their next three to enter the Clemson game at 8-0, but not if they are looking ahead like it appears they were after last week's win.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Kerbstreit as I like to call him also talks about the impressive start the Clemson Tigers have had and what their pitfalls could be and who he likes LSU or Alabama in addition to the Bulldogs and Jackets.

On the Bulldog Hotline (aka Mark Richt Call In Show) this past Monday, the UGA Head Coach was asked why Cornelius Washington was suspended (at least) two games whereas Demetre Baker was dismissed from the team last year.

Richt's answer?

Says our Athletic Association has a policy for a 20% suspension on a DUI. That’s what he followed. A year ago the situation was different. There was a lot discipline problems and the young man who got in trouble knew what was at stake. He’s sad that he had to go but that’s just the way it went.

Back to my thoughts...
I have always thought that it was completely up to the coach what they wanted to do regarding discipline. Each player and situation are different. Black and white rules are very hard to apply. If you have a guy who has never had one ounce of trouble and then runs afoul which could cause dismissal do you throw away all the good work he has done?

What about a player who consistently fails with one minor screwup after another but nothing law breaking. When that player is arrested do you not have to consider his entire history?

QB Aaron Murray has thrown six INTs through five games after having eight last season. “I want to protect the ball, and get my team the best opportunity to win,” he said. “I have to work on my accuracy and decision-making and not throw those passes. I'm working on it.”

Apparently the Georgia Tech and Maryland head coaches have had two less than pleasant post game hand shakes when they were coaches at their previous schools according to this recollection posted on the wildly popular EDBS (Every Day Should Be Saturday).

In 2002 UConn played Navy in Annapolis during Paul Johnson's first year as head coach of Navy. Navy went 2-10 that year, including this shutout loss to Connecticut. Of course, 2-10 was an improvement over the 1-20 record Navy had the previous two years. But I digress.

After the clock hit zeroes, PJ and Edsall met at midfield. While shaking hands, Edsall smugly said "Don't worry, I won't share the tape with anyone," implying he had found out how to shut down the triple option offense. But revenge is a dish best served by a heartless coach after the jump.

Fast forward to 2006. Navy is playing at UConn in the 2nd of the scheduled 4 game home-and-home series started in 2002. At this point Navy was coming off three straight bowl games while UConnhad gone 5-6 in 2005. I could go into detail of the horrors experienced by Huskies that day. But to make a long story short, Navy amassed 605 yards of offense, gained 464 of them on the ground at an 8.3 yards per carry average, and stomped UConn 41-17.

At the post game handshake, PJ grabbed Edsall's hand leaned in and said "Don't worry, I won't share the tape with anyone."

The poster also says that Edsall had UConn buy out the remaining two games of the Huskies four with Navy.

The Terps lackluster performance the last two weeks could mean they just aren't very good or they have spent a lot of the time preparing for Georgia Tech and Johnson's offense.

Hoping a UConn/Navy person will come verify this stories truthfulness.

ACC Head of Officiating Doug Rhoads talks about the Yellow Jackets and whether or not his refs are missing chop block calls on Georgia Tech as well the new calls on targeting and what he tell his guys on to call.